Since it IS Olympic season, I think any one of Tosca, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen or Turandot will fit the bill...

Ok, I kid. I fervently hope the top skaters will avoid the old warhorses (I'm looking at you, Evan).

Anyways, for Caroline, I think something from the Amelie soundtrack by Yann Tiersen will make a charming program. It's not excessively princessy and some of the faster pieces may make her skate faster to keep up with the music. Granted, most of the pieces from the Amelie soundtrack are not terribly bombastic or energetic, but Caroline seemed a bit overwhelmed with the energetic La Bayadere music she's been using this season.

Something Spanish-esque may also be a good idea, she seemed so much more comfortable with her Spanish Gypsy SP than with her La Bayadere SP this season.

Last edited by evangeline; 04-24-2009 at 09:44 PM.
Reason: fixing a grammatical error

Anyways, for Caroline, I think something from the Amelie soundtrack by Yann Tiersen will make a charming program. It's not excessively princessy and some of the faster pieces may make her skate faster to keep up with the music. Granted, most of the pieces from the Amelie soundtrack are not terribly bombastic or energetic, but Caroline seemed a bit overwhelmed with the energetic La Bayadere music she's been using this season.

Good recommendation. The most popular piece from Amelie, the Waltz, is slow and fast at parts, while being very melancholic overall. I think Caroline could do wonders with it if she'd be more expressive.

And I saw what you posted in the other thread, feraina, about Caroline taking music suggestions. I'm glad I was able to work on you to work on her. I'll take some time to think of new ideas, but I'm sure to be back.

Good recommendation. The most popular piece from Amelie, the Waltz, is slow and fast at parts, while being very melancholic overall. I think Caroline could do wonders with it if she'd be more expressive.

I'm not sure what the Waltz is, but if it's what Tanith/Ben used for their 2007 FD, I love that music and agree that Caroline could do a great job with it.

Also, the Tchaikovsky violin concerto (the only one he ever wrote, sadly) has a great main theme that I will look for a video of later. EDIT: Haha I lied, it starts at 6:22 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATK_pj2iMqg

Both the above are from Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto. The 1st clip is rather long, but one need only listen to the first few minutes to hear the relevant parts. Picture Caroline doing her spiral as the piano comes in. The Rondo movement is the fast and dramatic section. Caroline doesn't strike me as the type who does bombastic very well, though, so she might want to find another piece for the parts where she has to skate faster.

I suppose the 3 choices above are a bit too mature and sophisticated for a 16-year-old girl to skate to, but I think Caroline would leave an unfavourable impression in comparison to skaters like Mao and Yu-Na if she were to skate to 'little girl' music at the Olympics, so I figure if she has to have her Salome-like breakthrough, she might as well do it next season. However, if she wants something slightly more age-appropriate, she could go for the below:

I suppose the 3 choices above are a bit too mature and sophisticated for a 16-year-old girl to skate to, but I think Caroline would leave an unfavourable impression in comparison to skaters like Mao and Yu-Na if she were to skate to 'little girl' music at the Olympics, so I figure if she has to have her Salome-like breakthrough, she might as well do it next season. However, if she wants something slightly more age-appropriate, she could go for the below:

Yup, she needs a Salome like program, i think she can do it next year! GO CAROLINE!

I just listened to several waltzes on Amelie's soundtrack. While I love the music (and loved the movie too), I think most of the belong to the tinkly, cute music category that are not going to help her look mature and athletic. Tanith & Ben are powerful skaters and can carry off a tinkly waltz, I'm not sure it'd work for Caroline.

The Beethoven concerto adagio movement is really slow (last thing she needs for the music to slow her down), and the rondo movement is really overpowering. Ditto the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. She had two such orchestral pieces this year (Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere) and neither really worked out. She ends up looking rushed and behind all the time.

The Saint Saens piece is beautiful, but it is rich in rhythmic texture, which she's not particularly strong in, and relatively short on melodic phrasing, which is her strength. Besides, once the orchestral parts set in, I worry about the overpowering issue again.

Meditation of the Thais she already skated to three seasons ago.

Since she has had the most success with something a little different from classical, namely Spanish Gypsy, which is kinda of a modernized version of flamenco, I wonder if she wouldn't do well with a tango. Not an over-dramatic ballroom tango, but a nice melodic, lyrical Argentine tango.

The faster rhythmic accompaniments are great for spins and footwork sequence, and otherwise she can skate to the melody carried by the violin.

I also like Palomita Blanca (Garufa version), which is nice lyrical rendition of a fast tango-waltz, not unlike the Spanish Gypsy, but with tango flavor instead of flamenco. Unfortunately I can't find it online.

feraina, overpower Caroline with all the choices and see which ones she picks.

I agree the Adagio movement of the Beethoven concerto might be a tad too slow - if she ever uses it, maybe she could just utilize the beginning piano section. And while Amelie's waltz is piano music (she might want to avoid the tinkliness that comes with a solo piano piece and pick something with more oomph), I wouldn't say it's cute.

I like the tango pieces you posted, but everyone and their Aunt Annie seems to be skating to tango pieces these days, to the point that they're getting to be overkill. I agree Caroline might want to go for something other than classical...we'll just have to rack our brains to come up with more choices!

I know this will sound weird, but i'd love to see Caroline skate to A Little Princess soundtrack by Patrick Doyle. I know it sounds like another princessy-princess program, but the score is a lot more than that. I could also see her doing a program to maybe Legends of the Fall, and maybe Sound of Music (why hasn't anybody skated to that yet???)